Letting Go
by whateverOne
Summary: Give it a try.
1. Chapter 1

**Another one. **

* * *

I sighed as I looked at the picture frame on my bedside table. We were so happy back then. I guess not all relationships will always be rainbows and butterflies. There will always be a problem that would turn your perfect relationship upside down.

I have never felt so... I don't know what's the right word... _lost_? In my life until now. I don't even know if I was just clueless or just so plain in denial. I may have noticed the little changes but I don't want to admit them to myself. I just can't. I can't for the life of me admit that we're starting to grow apart. This was maybe the reason why I chose to be clueless. I mean the changes were right there but I chose not to see them. People have started questioning about how we were doing but I chose not to hear them. I felt something wrong but I chose not to feel them.

Changes were there but I chose to ignore them and be clueless _and_ be in denial.

x x x

I took a deep breath and closed the notebook that I have been scribbling as I heard my mom in the kitchen. "Hi, mom."

"Hello, honey." She looked at me curiously. "Is everything okay?" She asked while putting some of the groceries she had brought in the fridge.

"Yeah." I sat at one of the stools by the counter.

"Is everything okay between you and Mitchie?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering since I haven't seen her in a while."

"She's busy with a lot of things, mom." I answered, a little defensively. She eyed me for a moment. "What?"

She shrugged, "If you say so." She mumbled but I still heard it and it kind of got me annoyed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I stood up.

She sighed, "Nothing, nothing. I was just worried about you since you've been so quiet lately. I was just thinking that maybe there's something wrong happened between you and Mitchie since she's not been around too." I furrowed my eyebrows at her. "Honey, I didn't mean to upset you, I was just concerned. Okay? And if you say that everything is fine then I believe you."

I returned to my seat, "Everything is fine, mom." I insisted.

"Okay." She folded her arms and rested them on the counter looking at me with a smile. "Why don't you call Mitchie and try to invite her for dinner? Tell her we missed having her here around."

I nodded as I took my phone out from my pocket, made my way to the living room and called Mitchie. She picked up after the fourth ring. "Hello?" My throat suddenly went dry. "Alex?"

I sat on the couch, "Uh, hi Mitch. Um, do... do you have plans for tonight?" I don't even know why I was so nervous talking to my girlfriend.

"Uh..."

"Mom wants to invite you for dinner. She said it's been a while since the last time you came over." I let out an awkward chuckle. "I think she missed you."

"Oh..." She paused before clearing her throat. "Um, Lex I would love to but..." She sighed. "...there are things I need to finish now here at home."

"Oh, okay." I took a deep breath. "I understand. I'll just explain it to mom."

"Okay, thanks. Tell Theresa though that I'm sorry I can't make it tonight. Maybe next time?"

"Yeah." There was a pause again. "Mitch?"

"Yeah?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "I... I miss you."

"I miss you too." I smiled at her answer that warmed my heart a little bit. "I love you, Alex." She added. And that just made my heart flutter. "You know that right? I'm just a little pre-occupied at the moment. But when things get better, I promise, I'll be yours without distractions."

"I understand, Mitch. I know you've been working hard to obtain your dream. And I told you before, I will support you all the way, no matter what it takes. I love you too much to stop you from doing what you love."

"Thank you, Alex. For being so understanding, supportive and loving."

"I wouldn't do it just for anybody, Mitch."

"I know. That's why I'm thankful for having someone like you."

"Hey, you're gonna inflate my ego now." She chuckled. A _genuine_ chuckle. And that made me feel like we're okay. That everything is fine. "Now, go ahead and finish what needs to be done so I can have you all to myself without any distractions." She released a chuckle again. "What? That's what you promised." I pouted like she could see me. "I'm pouting now, Mitch. You know you couldn't resist this." And I can imagine her shaking her head, smiling.

But to my surprise, she laughed. Like really laughed, "Oh Alex, you just made me miss you even more." I furiously blushed at that confession. Then her tone became serious, "But I promise, Lex, I'll be yours alone when things get better, okay?"

"Okay. And don't worry about mom, I'll explain to her why you couldn't make it tonight."

"Thanks, baby. I love you." She gushed.

"Baby?" I chuckled. "I missed you calling me that." She giggled. "I love you to the moon and back, baby." She kept on giggling. "Bye, Mitch."

"Okay. Bye, Lex."

x x x

After that phone call, I patiently waited for that day to come, for that day to have Mitchie all to myself with an undivided attention. Days turned to weeks and I still patiently waited for it and I was getting worried that it would turn it to months. Granted, we still text or talk over the phone but it was never enough for me. I wanted more. The anxiety that I was feeling week after week is getting worse. My main worry that keeps me anxious is that: _what if we are starting to grow apart? _I can't help but feel like Mitchie doesn't want me anymore. And I can't take that. The thought of going over to her house was very tempting since it's only a 30-minute drive but I don't want Mitchie to think that I was too clingy and she may get mad, I don't wanna risk that. I know she's very busy and I would only distract her if I would pay her a visit.

"Alex!" I heard my mom called out as I snapped out of my thoughts. She snapped her fingers in front of me. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, mom." I sighed and wiped the already cleaned counter.

"Why don't you take a walk for a while? To the park maybe? Just to clear out all your thoughts?" My mom suggested knowingly.

I sighed then nodded. So I walked to the park where Mitchie and I usually go to and went to a specific area. I sat under the shadow of the tree and leaned to its big bark. I closed my eyes as I thought about being with Mitchie.

"Alex?" I inwardly cringed as I heard the voice of the most irritating person I ever met. I opened my eyes and looked up at him.

"What do you want Shane?" He is full aware that I hated his guts. He smirked. This guy is just so fucking irritating, I don't even know why Mitchie's friends with him. Let alone one her best friends.

"You're here alone, so Mitchie did finally told you. She finally had the guts huh?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I stood up and narrowed my eyes at him.

He snorted, "Please, like you don't know."

"What?"

"Mitchie. She already has a deal with a recording company in LA. At last, her hardwork has finally paid off." I looked at him puzzled. He grinned, it finally hit him that I had no idea what he was talking about. "You didn't know." He chuckled, "She still hasn't told you." He crossed his arms over his chest clearly amused of having me pissed off. "Oh well, let me tell you what I know since Mitchie doesn't have the guts to tell you herself." He unfolded his right arm and brought his hand over his chin. "Well, since I already blurted out to you about the deal, here's another one. She's scheduled to fly to LA in two weeks to have her contracts signed." I clenched my fists, ready to punch this asshole at any moment.

"Shut the fuck up, Shane." He eyed at my fists. He raised his arms like he was defeated.

"Alright." He started to back-off. Taking a few steps backward but before he completely walked-off he called out, "You do know that you're making her unhappy right?" I took steps toward him ready to wipe his fucking smirk off his face but he stepped backwards too. "You're holding her back. Let her go, Alex. Let her do something she loves without worrying about you. She always holds back because she's afraid of hurting you. Even though she has already fallen out of love from you, she still cares about you a lot." And that was the time I lost my temper, I ran to him and punched him square at his nose. Hard. He laughed as he held his bleeding nose. "It hurts right? Knowing all those things?" This guy just knows how to push my buttons and he was enjoying it.

I held the collar of his shirt tightly, "You asshole!" I hissed at his face. "I'm not holding her back. I have supported her with all the things she wanted to do." I released his shirt and push him hard. "And she loves me." I walked off before I could do something that I would regret.

"Yeah right! Keep lying to yourself, Alex!" He shouted.

x x x

I started to walk home breathing heavily. I tried forgetting the things that Shane had told me but I can't seem to do it. The thought of making Mitchie unhappy was making me angry. Angry at myself of being so clueless. Especially if Mitchie has already fallen out of love from me.

I made it home, ignored my mom calling me and walked directly in my room. I slammed the door close then locked it. I rested my palms against it, closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. It didn't work at all. I felt the need to release the tension that ran through me. I pulled back from the door and punched it as hard as I could. I heard a gasp behind me and I immediately turned around.

"Alex!" Mitchie exclaimed before running to me, wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. I limply leaned onto her and released the tears I was holding back. "What happened?" She whispered.

"Nothing." I pulled back and wiped my tears away. "I just got a little exchange of words with some jerk at the park."

"That's nothing, Alex! You were furious!" Mitchie pulled up my hand and studied it. It was the same hand that I used upon punching Shane. "It's already bruising. Let me take care of it. Sit on the bed." She instructed then walked to my bathroom and got the first aid kit. She sat beside me and started taking care of my hand. I hissed when she started putting some medicine on it. She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, "Don't try to whine on me. It's your fault you are on this fix. What were you thinking? Just punching the door like that, huh?" She scolded.

I didn't answer. I just studied her and thought, _'Am I really making her unhappy? Am I really holding her back? Does she love me still?'_

I snapped out of my thoughts when she put her hand on my cheek and gently caressed it with her thumb. "Lex?"

"What are you doing here? Are you done with the things you need to do?" I asked remembering what Shane said. She sighed and went back on treating my hand.

"Not yet, but I missed you and I needed a break. So I thought maybe I could give you that thing I promised you." She smiled a little at me. "A day with an undivided attention?"

I returned the smile. "Really?" She nodded. "And you missed me?"

"A lot, actually." She wrapped my hand with a bandage. "It was supposed to be a surprise but it seemed you beat me to it." She chuckled this time.

I leaned into her, wrapped my arms around her waist before kissing the top of her head. "I missed you too."

"Did you really?" She pulled back and playfully raised an eyebrow at me.

I gasped and put my injured hand over my heart. "You don't believe me?" She shook her head while giggling. "Why?" She shrugged. "Oh well, Mitchie, I don't only miss you but I miss everything about you too."

"Uh-huh..." She pinched my nose lightly.

"What? It's true."

"Okay, I believe you." She kissed my cheek.

"So... About the thing you promised?" I held her hands. She nodded, urging me to continue. "Can I take you out? Like on a date? Have dinner and a movie? It's been a while since the last time we had a date."

"Yeah. Sounds good to me."

"Perfect!" I exclaimed and clapped my hands forgetting my injured hand. "Ow." I hissed and tried to relax it.

"Whoa. Easy there, Lex. You don't want it to hurt more."

x x x

"Did you enjoy it?" I asked as we walked at the park, hand in hand. She pulled her head from my shoulder and looked at me. "The dinner and the movie, did you enjoy it?"

"Of course, and you were right, it's been a while since the last time we did this." She replied as she motioned for us to take a seat in our favorite spot, under a specific big old tree, where my encounter with Shane happened earlier.

"Maybe we could do this some other time." I suggested and she quietly agreed.

We sat and leaned back against the tree, with her resting her head back on my shoulder and held my good hand before intertwining our fingers. We sat in silence as we enjoyed each other's company. I closed my eyes then turned my head a little and kissed her hair.

A moment later, I felt her completely pulled back, but before I could question her what was wrong, she sat on my outstretched legs, putting her hands on each side of my face and just looked at me. "Mitch?" She looked into my eyes, then to my lips, then back to my eyes. "Is there som-" she quickly leaned in and placed her lips on mine catching me off guard but nevertheless, I responded to the kiss and wrapped my arms around her. Butterflies quickly erupted in my stomach.

Pulling back from the kiss, she leaned her forehead on mine still eyes closed.

I took a deep breath and whispered, "Is there something wrong, Mitch?" I asked and opened my eyes.

She pulled back a little and looked at me again. I stayed still and studied her, trying to figure out what she was thinking, not until I noticed the tears starting to form in her eyes.

Realizing it, she shook her head a little and wrapped her arms around my neck, nuzzling her head in my neck.

"You know you can tell me anything." I hugged her a little tighter. "Anything. Is there something bothering you? Is there anything you wanted to tell me?" I asked, remembering again what Shane had told me.

She shook her head against me and whispered, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I just realized how much I missed you. How I missed being this close to you."

"Well, I'm just here. I'm not going anywhere." I smiled against her head. "Do you want to have a sleepover?"

She nodded, "I'd like that."

"Alright. Let's get going then."

x x x

I ran my fingers through her hair then tucked some loose strands behind her ear as I watched her sleep. She shifted a little closer to me and draped her arm around my waist tightly. Her breathing was even, indicating she had already fallen asleep.

"I love you so much, Mitch." I whispered. "But if I'm making you unhappy...if you don't love me anymore..." My heart clenched when it crossed my mind, "...even if it's hard... I'm gonna let you go." I took a deep breath to hold back my tears. "I'm not gonna hold you back." I wrapped my arms tightly around her and pulled her closer to me. Just then, my tears started to fall no matter how hard I try to hold them back.

"Lex?" She whispered, attempting to pull away from the hug. My eyes widen when I realized that she might have heard me. I quickly wiped my tears away with one hand while my other arm held her still so she couldn't pull back. "Are you crying?" She attempted to pull back again, but I didn't let her.

"No. I just had a bad dream." I sniffed. "Go back to sleep." Thankfully she didn't ask any further and went back to sleep.

x x x

I blinked a few times to adjust my eyes with the bright light. As I did so, I heard Mitchie whispered, "Hey sleepyhead. Good morning."

I completely opened my eyes and looked at her. "Morning." She had a sad smile. "What's wrong?" She shook her head slightly then nuzzled her head into my neck. I sighed, "Alright."

"Were you crying last night?"

"I just had a bad dream. No need for you to worry."

"How bad was it that it made you cry?"

"Just bad."

She sighed. "I'm going home today."

"I know." I pulled her closer. "But can I pay you a visit sometime next week? If that's alright."

"Just let me know when in advance."

"Can't I surprise you?"

"Alex, you know I hate surprise visits." She pulled back a little and looked up at me. "Give me a heads up when you stop by."

I sighed, "Fine."

"I'm serious, Lex."

"I know."

x x x

I smiled widely as I buzzed the door bell. The door was opened by Mr. Torres.

"Hello Mr. Torres, is Mitchie around?" He looked down at the flowers I brought.

"Don't you think it's a little too early for your visit, young lady?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

I gulped, "Oh, I was just in the neighborhood so I decided to stop by. Don't worry Sir, I won't take long."

"Uh-huh..." He trailed off. I know he didn't believe me when I said I was in the neighborhood. I started to fidget the stems of the flowers in my hands. He sighed. "Alright. Come in. You're lucky I like you." He laughed.

I sighed in relief. "Thank you, Sir."

He nodded. "She's in her room with her mom."

"Alright. Thanks." I started to walk to Mitchie's room.

As I neared her room, I heard a faint crying. I furrowed my brows and peeked at the half-opened door. There I saw her, tears falling from her eyes with Connie rubbing her hand on her daughter's back trying to soothe her. I was about to knock when Connie asked, "Did you tell her already?"

I pulled back down my hand and listened. "No. I can't seem to do it."

"You have to, sweetie. Alex has the right to know." So they're talking about me.

"I know, I'm just scared to tell her because it will surely lead us to an argument and I don't want to fight with her. I don't wanna hurt her." She sniffed.

"But you have to eventually tell her sooner because you're leaving in a few days."

"I can't mom, especially after I heard her telling me what she's been feeling." I furrowed my brows.

"What did she say? And when did this happen?" Her mom seemed lost. Well so am I.

"When I spent the night at their house. She thought that I was already sleeping, so she said some things to me. She's already thinking that I don't love her anymore mom and then she cried. She cried mom. You know Alex, she doesn't cry easily. She only cries when she can't bare the pain that she's feeling anymore." She sobbed, and then I realized she was talking about that night she slept over. I hit my forehead with my hand. Stupid Alex.

"But you still love her, right?"

She froze then looked up at her mom, eyes widened. Then she cried even harder.

I dropped the flowers to the floor as I leaned a hand on the wall. I felt my knees went weak. I wobbled my way out, thankfully Mr. Torres was in the kitchen when I was on my way out so I don't have to face him.

When I reached my car, I placed an arm on top of it then leaned my head over it and took deep breaths.

The things that I've been so scared of happening were starting to unfold.

I finally sat in my car and dialed a number right away. I know she knows all about this. She's Mitchie's best friend after all.

"Hello?"

"Uh, hey. Umm... This may be sudden but are you free for a coffee this afternoon? I really have to talk to you." I asked right away.

"Sure. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just needed to talk to you about something important. Is 4:00 at the coffee shop alright?"

"Okay. I'll be there."

"Thanks Cait. I'll see you later. Bye."

"Bye."

x x x

I cupped both of my hands around my cup as I stared at my coffee, waiting for Caitlyn. The look on Mitchie's face when her mom asked her if she still loves me kept replaying on my head. That certain look. That guilty look. It said it all. Her answer is: _No, not anymore._ I shook my head, clearing all of my thoughts for the sake of my sanity. I closed my eyes and put my palms over them.

"Alex? Are you alright?" I heard Caitlyn asked. I looked at her as she sat down across from me.

"I don't know what to feel anymore." She looked at me clearly confused. I sighed. "Let me get you a coffee first." I stood up.

"No. I'll get it myself." I nodded and sat back down, looked at the cars outside, passing by. "Now, tell me what's going on with you. Did something happen?"

Now it's time for me to act that I know everything so she could blurt it all out without forcing her to tell me everything.

"Mitchie's leaving." I said without looking at her.

She sighed, "So, she already told you." I didn't answer. "You guys should spend the two remaining days together before she leaves."

I looked at her right away. I gave her a sad smile. "So, she's really going to LA. And she's leaving two days from now." I looked down at my coffee again.

She sat up straight, "I thought you already knew. Didn't she tell you?"

I shook my head, "I know nothing, Cait. That is why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted confirmation, somehow." I looked at her.

"Who told you then?"

"Shane."

"That asshole." She mumbled. I smiled a little. I guess I'm not the only one who hates the guy.

"I think he actually did me a favor, Cait. I mean, do you honestly think that Mitchie will have the guts to tell me herself?"

"But still, he has no right." She gritted. "Mitchie will eventually tell you somehow."

"When? On the day she's leaving?"

"Alex." She said softly, as if trying to tell me to understand Mitchie.

"I honestly think that she wouldn't say anything to me. That she would just leave without telling me what's going on."

"Come on Alex. You don't mean that. You know Mitchie. She wouldn't do that to you." She looked directly in my eyes. "She's just scared of hurting you."

"That's what Shane said."

She furrowed her brows. "What else did that asshole told you?"

I shook my head, "Answer me honestly Cait," she nodded. "Am I making Mitchie unhappy? Am I holding her back? Does she love me the way that she used to?"

Her eyes widen and that reaction made my heart clench. I think I know the answers to all those questions. _Shane was right all along._

She stood up abruptly and said, "I'm gonna kill that bastard." She made her way out the door.

I quickly followed her and wrapped my hand on her wrist, stopping her. "It's okay. I'll try to understand." I gave her a small smile.

"What? No! Listen to me Alex." She put her hands on my shoulders. "Shane doesn't know things alright? If there are things Mitch couldn't tell you, she comes to me. Only me. So I'm telling you now..." She squeezed my shoulders. "...You're not making her unhappy. I mean come on, can't you see the way her eyes light up every time she sees you? You're not holding her back, you've been so supportive all this time, right? And Mitch loves you the way that she used to." She gave me a smile. "You believe me right?" She asked hopefully and removed her hands from my shoulders. I would have believed that 100% if I hadn't heard Mitchie what she said to her mother.

I took a deep breath and looked up at the dark clouds. "I don't know what to believe anymore, Cait." I looked back at her. "But thank you for the things you said though. It made feel a little better."

She looked at me sadly. "Maybe you guys should talk. Talk about the things you needed to talk about."

I nodded. "Thank you, Cait. For being a friend."

"Of course."

x x x

After the talk I had with Caitlyn, I had to rethink things through. But there's certain question that's been floating in my mind. _How did our true love became a lie?_

I looked up at the night sky filled with bright stars. I smiled as I remembered Mitchie's eyes. They shine brightly the same with the stars.

I pulled my eyes away from the stars when I felt my phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and saw Mitchie's calling again. I know she already knows that I went to her house early this morning without letting her know. And I'm sure Caitlyn already let her know that I have had talked to her about the things Mitchie couldn't tell me. I sighed and declined the call.

I called my mom instead. She picked up at the third ring.

"Where are you honey? Mitchie called here a little while ago, looking for you."

"Don't worry mom, I'm gonna call her later. And I'm here at the park." I looked around. "Though I'm gonna be home a little late. Is that alright? I just need to clear things out of my mind."

"Is everything okay, honey? You know you could talk to me." She said worriedly.

"I know mom. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Okay. Just don't stay out too late. Stay safe, honey."

"I will mom. Thanks. Bye."

"Bye." I hung up, closing my eyes and leaned my head back against the tree.

"I knew I'd find you here." My heart skipped a beat when I heard her, though I didn't looked at her nor I opened my eyes to acknowledge her presence. "This is our favorite place after all."

I felt her sat beside me, leaned her head on my shoulder then grabbed my hand wrapping it in between her hands.

I wanted to pull away from her but I didn't. I didn't move. I didn't say anything. Not because I don't want to say anything or I don't want to move. But because I don't know what to say and I don't know how to react.

"You didn't answer my calls and texts." She said softly.

"Because I don't know what to say to you."

"Even letting me know where you are? Or if you're okay?"

"I have a lot of things going on in my mind that I don't even have answers for those questions." My reply seemed came out as harsh. And she noticed.

"Lex."

"Actually, the things that are running around in my mind are just questions. I don't know if I'm just blind, deaf, clueless or just so in denial." She squeezed my hand a little upon hearing my tone. "Maybe you have answers for these questions and help me figure things out."

She ignored what I said. "Dad told me you stopped by at the house." I remained silent. "Caitlyn called me too and said that you two talked. And that you already knew."

"Knew about what?"

"About me leaving on Friday."

"So, you are?"

She sighed. "Yes."

"And you don't have plans on telling me?"

"Lex."

"Can you please stop saying my name like that?" I looked at her.

She removed her head from my shoulder. "Can you stop with all the questions?" She countered.

"What do you want me to say?" My voice raised a little and it made her flinch. I took a deep breath and lowered my voice, "Please tell me what you want to hear from me because I told you, the things running around in my mind are just questions. The only thing that isn't a question is something I don't want to do. I just..." My voice cracked and I looked away. "I can't be selfish. I don't wanna do that to you. So please tell me, what do you want from me?" I asked desperately, staring back at her sad eyes. "Tell me and I'll do it."

She didn't answer. She just stared at me. Tears started to fall from her eyes.

"Am I still making you happy? Are you still happy of being with me?"

Still no answer.

I pulled my hand from hers and covered my face in my hands. "Do you love me still, Mitch?" I mumbled in my hands.

She answered me with a whispered, "What?" And that's when my heart broke into pieces.

I pulled my hands from my face and turned to her. "It was a _yes or no_ question, Mitch but you answered me with a _what_." I smiled sadly at her. "I'll take your answer as a _no_." I stood up slowly. "I think I have my answers now. I was right. You do have the answers to my questions."

She snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed I stood up. She stood up as well then wrapped her arms around my neck. I sighed and just returned the hug. Savoring the moment since this could be the last time I could hold her close, wrapped in my arms. "Of course I still love you." She whispered.

I closed my eyes and let my tears fall. "But not the way that you used to."

She cried harder. "I'm sorry Lex. I'm so sorry. I never meant for this to happen. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know but you should have told me about what you were feeling, I could have found a way to fix it." She hugged me tightly. "But it's a little too late now, so I'm gonna do the right thing here, Mitch..." I paused when my voice shook, I pushed past the lump in my throat and continued, "I'm letting you go now." She shook her head against my shoulder. "Don't make this harder than it already is, Mitch."

I unwound her arms around me but kept her hands in mine. She looked at me. I looked down at our joined hands, pulled them up a little and kissed her knuckles. I lingered my lips on them for a little while, my tears dropped on the back of her hands. I felt her head leaned on top of mine then placed a kiss on it.

I pulled back after a little moment, released her hands before wiping her tears away, though it was useless since the fresh ones will start to pour down. "Did you bring a car with you?" She nodded. "Come on, I'll take you there." I pulled back but she grabbed my arm and wrapped both hers in mine.

We walked in silence until we reached her car. She unlocked it but before opening the door she turned to me. Her eyes were still puffy and red from crying. And so were mine. She sniffed, wiped her nose with her sleeve. I pulled out my handkerchief and wiped her face instead. She held my hand to stop from moving and looked at me again. "We don't have to do this."

I shook my head and pulled my hand. "We have to. I don't want to hold you back. And it wouldn't be fair to us if we continue to string each other along."

"I just don-" she stuttered out then sighed. "Can we hang out until I leave?"

"I don't think I could handle that Mitch." I looked away.

"Okay. Can you at least answer my calls?" She asked hopefully.

"I can't promise you that either, Mitch." She looked down. "But I'll try."

She pulled me into her and hugged me again. "I shouldn't be so broken-hearted about all this since I knew this was entirely my own fault."

I shook my head, "It's not your fault, Mitch."

She pulled back. "It is, Alex. How can you stand there and say it isn't my fault? You're insanely amazing and I'm here breaking your heart. What's wrong with me?!" She exclaimed before covering her face with her hands and cried again.

"Mitch..." I pulled her hands away from her face. "Maybe this separation will help you figure things out. Figure it out on your own."

"Will you wait for me? Until I figure things out? So I could fix this mess?" She sounded hopeful again. I looked at her brown eyes again, even though they are red from crying, they never seized to pull me in.

I put her hand on my chest, over my heart. "You have my heart, Mitch." She furrowed her eyes at me, confused. I opened the door for her. "Come back to me if you feel our love is real again." I kissed her cheek. "But for now, I have to set you free." She nodded sadly and went in her car. "Goodbye, Mitch." Then I closed her door and stepped back.

x x x

I hid behind the pillar and looked at her as she talked to her mom and dad. She gave them a sad smile before hugging them, probably to say goodbye. This is it. She's leaving. And only God knows how long she would be there and when she's coming back or that is if she ever comes back. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and leaned my forehead against the pillar. "This is it, Alex. Take a one last look and then go home... And move on." I opened my eyes and took a one last glance. "Goodbye, Sunshine." I took a step backward as I saw her pulled back from her mom. I turned and slowly walked towards the exit.

"Lex!" I stopped quickly when I heard her. I didn't turn around. I stood still. Frozen. Letting people around me do their own things. My heart pounded against my chest. "You're just gonna leave without saying goodbye?" Her voice was much closer.

"I think I already did that the last time we talked."

She walked in front of me. I looked away. "Lex." Her voice cracked. She cupped my face in her hands to make me look at her. She's crying. "I'm gonna miss you so bad." I nodded. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I never meant for this to happen."

"I know." I removed her hands from my face but still held them. "Just do me one favor Mitch." She nodded. "Just be happy. With everything you do, just... Just be happy."

"Lex."

I released her hands and cupped her face in my hands while wiping her tears away with my thumbs. "Stop crying." She shook her head and wrapped her hands on my wrists. I leaned onto her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "I love you but I have to let you go." I whispered against her. "Please take care of yourself." I pulled away completely, releasing her. "Goodbye, Mitchie."

With that being said, I walked past her and towards the exit. When I got outside, I finally let them fall, the tears that I've been holding back. And as if on cue, the rain too has started to fall. Trying to mend my broken heart.

* * *

**Is it a little sad? Leave a review? Yes?**


	2. Chapter 2

**So... How about a continuation? I'm not so sure about this, but can you at least give it a try? This is shorter than the first one.**

* * *

The day she left for LA, I went home, locked myself in my room and cried myself to sleep. The following day, I explained all to my mom what had happened. And by explaining, it meant I had to relive the downfall of my relationship. And by reliving it, it meant I cried. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't help myself but cry. My mom actually cried with me.

The following weeks, Mitchie called me non-stop, I tried to stop myself from answering it since I know it would just hurt me more upon hearing her voice again but it got me to the point were I caved in. I answered it. Thankfully, she understood why I've been rejecting her calls.

I was reading an acceptance letter from a university when I picked up her call.

"Hello?" I hesitantly answered.

"Lex," was her quiet reply. "You answered." She continued, surprised.

"Yeah."

"I understand why you've been neglecting my calls."

"Thanks." I breathed out. "It's just too hard for me."

"I know." A pause. "This might sound stupid to ask but... how are you?"

"I... I'm fine. I'm reading an acceptance letter from a university as we speak." I looked down at the paper in my hand.

"That's good to hear, Lex." She sounded excited. "I take it you're pursuing Arts? You're incredibly good at that."

I smiled, "Yeah, I'm pursuing Arts." Silence again. "So, how are you?"

"I'm good, though I'm starting to get homesick. I miss New York."

"Well, I think New York misses you too, and don't worry, you'll be able to adjust soon."

"I miss you, Alex."

"Mitch..."

She cut me off, "I know, I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, just..." I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

I closed my eyes, "You didn't. It's just..."

"You don't have to explain anything. I get it. I understand."

"I miss you too." I admitted. There was a long pause, I waited for her to reply but I suddenly heard her sniffed and I knew right away that she was crying. This was one of the reasons why I don't want to answer her calls. It would just bring back memories. Memories that I wanted to forget for the mean time in order for me to stop hurting. My heart clenched. I pulled my phone away from my ear and leaned it against my forehead. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath before putting it back against my ear. "Please don't cry."

"I'm not." She denied. "I'm... I'm not crying." She sniffed more.

I let it go. "Mitch?"

"Yeah."

"Can I ask for a favor?"

"Anything."

"Can you let me move on?" No answer. "It's getting very hard, Mitch. I've been trying so hard, but every time you call, my heart wouldn't let me. And I can't take any more pain, Mitch. It just hurts too much." I pushed past the lump in my throat. "We need to completely let go of each other."

"Lex, I..." She stuttered out. "But what about what you said that I could come back to you if I feel our love is real again?"

"Then we'll be together."

"But what if you have already completely moved on?"

"As I said before, you have my heart, Mitch. I can't imagine giving it to someone else. I just need to move on for the time being. I mean, do you honestly think that you could figure things out sooner? I just need to stop this pain that I've been feeling. And in order for that to happen, we should let each other go completely and move on."

"If I'll do that, will you be happy?"

"No. But, it's gonna be my first step."

She sighed. "And by doing that, we should stop our communication?"

"Well, you could call me, but only if there's no one else you could talk to."

"You promise?"

I smiled. "I promise."

And she agreed. We spent two hours or so, talking. Mitchie said that if she couldn't talk to me for a long time, might as well take the chance and savor the moment. We only stopped when her manager called her and said she was needed in the studio. Our goodbyes were full of tears.

x x x

I never thought that letting Mitchie go completely would left me so... _Empty. _As I kept trying myself not to think about her, my heart wouldn't just let me. It always pulls me back to her.

Thankfully, college days have started and it helped me not to think about her. I spent my time being busy with school paperwork and hang out with my friends or with my family.

It has been almost a year since that phone call happened. Mitchie kept her word and let me move on. I would be lying if I'd say that I didn't miss her because I miss her terribly. But with school and not hearing anything from her, it helped me bury my feelings deep within my heart. The pain has lessened and I actually felt a little happy. And also happy because I'm having excellent grades, I have a part-time job, and I was able to move out and live in a shared apartment with a new friend from school.

Everything went well, or that was what I thought.

Harper, my new friend that I share the apartment with came home with a bunch of magazines in her arms.

"What are those for? You have like fifty of them." I raised an eyebrow at her as she set the magazines at the floor with a loud thud then sat beside me.

"For a homework. I need to find advertisements in them, cut them then paste to a book." She sighed and leaned her head back on the couch.

"Do you need help? I have nothing better to do." I offered.

She turned to me with a wide grin. "That would be great. Thank you, Alex. I appreciate it."

"No worries." I patted her knee. "Might as well get it started." She nodded.

Helping Harper was fun, we talked about a lot of things here and there, but not until she suddenly squealed. I stopped from flipping pages, covered my ears and looked up at her, my brows furrowed.

"Harper! What the hell?"

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed and looked at me with eyes widened. I looked at the magazine she was holding and recognized it was a _People's Magazine_. I rolled my eyes.

Harper is a type of girl that stalks her celebrity crushes. And at the moment, she was obviously fangirling.

I sighed. "What is it now? Or should I say, who is it this time?"

She took deep breaths to let herself relax from her excitement. She pointed at a page, "Nate Grey!"

"Who?"

"Nate Grey!" She repeated.

"Uh... I don't know who that is." I looked back down at the magazine in my hand, flipping pages again.

She gasped. "What?!" She exclaimed again. I snorted at her reaction. "Who honestly don't know Nate Grey?" She said unbelievably, waved her hands in the air. "Did you live in a cave or something?"

I chuckled. I honestly don't know the guy. "Uh, no. I just lived in a normal house." She shook her head as if she's sorry for me. "What does he do anyways? And what was the news about your crush that you were freaking out?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Nate is a music artist." She held her chin up. I laughed. "And he has a new girlfriend." She said, a little sadly.

"Well now, you lost your chance of being his girlfriend." She rolled her eyes. "And aside from that reason, why do you seem so sad that he has a girlfriend. Is her girlfriend not pretty? Doesn't she deserve him?" I asked with a little laugh while cutting a part from a page.

"No. She's pretty." She sighed. "She's a music artist too, a singer-songwriter. I actually listen to her music." She admitted. "They actually make a cute couple." She thought for minute. "If I could choose a girl for Nate, it would definitely be her." She nodded. "Yeah... I would choose Mitchie Torres for him."

My heart clenched when I heard her name. And learning that she's someone else's girlfriend made me feel like someone had stabbed it. A broken heart that I've been trying to put the pieces back together for almost a year. But now, I don't know if I could still piece together of a now shattered heart.

I was speechless. I pushed past the lump in my throat. I didn't realize that I cut my middle finger with the scissors that I've been holding until Harper screamed, "Alex!"

She ran to the bathroom, got the first aid kit then sat next to me. I looked down at my bleeding hand, and I could imagine, my heart was bleeding as well. I held back the tears.

"I'm fine, Harper. It was just a little cut." I pulled my hand back. "I can take care of it." I smiled at her. I stood up and picked up the first aid kit. "Finish your homework. I'll be fine." She looked at me curiously. "I'm fine." I reassured her as I walked to the bathroom.

I leaned my palms on the sink, looked at my reflection and took deep breaths. I closed my eyes and try my hardest to hold back the tears. I wasn't going to cry.

After a minute or two, I washed my hand, cleaned it then put a band-aid over the cut. When I walked out the bathroom, Harper turned to me and eyed me curiously. "What?"

"Nothing, are you okay?" I walked to her, sat back down and picked another magazine.

"Yeah, it was just a small cut."

She nodded. We continued her homework, talking about something else. I was thankful she dropped the subject about the Nate-Mitchie thing.

"Thanks for the help, Alex." She stood up, brought the remaining magazines to the side. "I owe you." She gave me a pointed look. I chuckled at her. "Maybe I could treat you lunch sometime this week."

"It's fine, Harper. You don't have to treat me lunch."

"Even though you'll refuse, I'll still buy you lunch. And that's final." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"If you insist, then fine. I mean, I could save money." I laughed.

"Good. Now I have to go out. I have to meet Zeke for dinner." She walked to the door.

"Okay, have fun." I called out as she stepped out the door. She waved goodbye before closing the door. I sighed then took a glance to the magazines. I was pretty sure that the magazine that has Mitchie in it was still in that stack. I've been contemplating if I should take a look in it or not.

I sighed, curiosity came out the _worst_ in me. I walked towards the magazines and looked for a certain one. When I found it, my heart started pounding. I walked back to the couch and flipped the pages.

Sure enough, I found the page and the title stared back at me in big bold letters as if mocking me: _The Newest Hollywood Young Couple_. To make it worst, below was a picture of Mitchie and the guy I know now, Nate. They seemed to be at the street walking somewhere, looking and smiling at each other while their hands were intertwined. I read the first lines of the article:

_A source that is a close friend of the pair said Nate and Mitchie were official for a while. They just kept it from public to avoid any issues and for their privacy. The two first met at..._

I stopped reading when I saw my tears fell down on the magazine. I wiped my eyes and then closed the magazine, put it back to where it was previously placed and walked in my room. My heart was burning and I felt my whole body went numb. I stared at the ceiling, and finally realized that Mitchie is not coming back to me. She's already in love with someone else and that she's happy. There's no hope for us of getting back together.

I took my phone out and called mom.

"Hi, honey." She greeted cheerfully. I sighed. "What's wrong?" She asked quickly.

"Mom, can I come home tonight? I have something to do and I kinda want to talk to you about something."

"Of course, honey. And have dinner here, I'll cook your favorite." I smiled.

"Thanks, mom. I'll see you later."

"Okay. Be safe."

x x x

"Hi, dad!" I greeted him happily as I spotted him watching TV. He turned to me surprised then narrowed his eyes on me.

"Did you get in trouble, young lady?"

I laughed, "No, dad. You know I'm a good girl now." He looked at me suspiciously. "I just miss my dad and mom and of course Max that's why I visited." I took a seat beside him.

He smiled and wrapped me in a big bear hug. "We miss having you here, bud." I giggled and returned the hug.

"Jerry, is that Alex already?" Mom called out from the kitchen.

"Yeah!" Dad answered back before pulling back from the hug. "Go, greet your mom. She missed you terribly." He shuffled my hair a little.

I nodded and headed to the kitchen. She was stirring something in a pot. "Hey, mom." She turned to me as I gave her small smile.

She walked up to me and engulfed me in a hug. She whispered, "I know something's wrong. We can talk about it after dinner alright?" I nodded against her shoulder. She pulled back and cupped my cheeks in her hands then smiled sadly at me. "Why don't you set the table so we could eat right away as soon as I'm done."

"Okay." I agreed and got some plates. "Hey, mom. Where's Max? I haven't seen him since I arrived."

"He has a sleepover with his friend, honey."

"Oh, okay." So I started setting the table up.

x x x

After the dinner, mom and I went to my room. I looked around, it was still the same how I left it. I saw the picture frame in my bedside table. It was Mitchie and I when we were still together. I frowned.

"So, tell me now what's wrong." My mom said as she sat on the edge of my bed.

I walked up to her and sat beside her. I decided to get straight to the point, "There's no chance of Mitchie and I of getting back together." I ran down my hands on my face as my heart clenched. "I know I shouldn't have hoped for that because of everything that had happened but I can't help myself to think that Mitchie and I are meant for each other. Guess I'm just fooling myself to think that."

"What made you think that there's no hope for you and Mitchie?"

"She's with someone else already. She's already in love and happy with someone else." I took a deep breath.

"Where did you know about that?" She questioned.

"I read it on a magazine."

"Is it reliable?"

"I think so." I shrugged. "And there was a picture of them in it. I looked closely at her. I can tell she's happy and in love with him. I can see it in her eyes and in her smile. I can see it the way she looked at him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she used to look at me like that." I said bluntly.

"Oh."

"It just hurts knowing that she already has that certain connection with someone else. I don't know if I could get through this heartache this time. I just wanna get over her and move on."

"You can get through it. You are a strong girl." My mom said as she put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me in a hug.

"I hope so because I'm tired of feeling like this over and over again. I just want all of this to stop. To stop thinking about her, caring about her, loving her and hurting because of her. I want all of them to stop." I wrapped my arms around my mom's waist for comfort. "If only I could forget everything about her. Then maybe, I could get out of this constant misery."

My mom sighed, "You couldn't forget everything about her, honey. But I know in time, you'll be able to move on. In time."

I pulled back, "Mom, do we have some empty big boxes?"

"Yeah, they are in the attic. Why?"

"I need to discard some things here and in the apartment." I explained as I stood up.

"What things?" She asked curiously as she stood up as well.

"Things that remind me of Mitchie." She looked at me worried. "Don't worry. I'm just going to hide them. I just don't want them on display or see them constantly." I assured her.

She sighed, "Alright, I'll go get them."

"Thanks, mom." She nodded as she went out.

She came back a little later with two big boxes. "Is this okay?"

I looked up at her, "Yeah. Thanks." then smiled at her.

"Do you want some help, honey?" She offered.

I shook my head. "No. I'm fine, I can handle this."

"Alright. Are you going to sleep as soon as you're done?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Goodnight then, honey. We'll see you in the morning." She said and kissed the top of my head. "Love you."

"Thanks, mom. Love you too." I sighed when my mom closed the door. It was time to set aside some things and hide them.

x x x

As I stared at the picture frame, I traced Mitchie's smiling face with my index finger.

"What went wrong, Mitch? I always thought we would be together in the end. I guess we're just not meant to be, huh?" I smiled sadly, sniffed and wiped my nose with my sleeve. "We have had promised each other forever but maybe this is the end of our forever. Even though our forever wasn't that long, most of my best days were in that time." I sighed, "I never stopped loving you. I really wanted to stop but I can't seem to do it." I put the frame in the box. "But, I'll try my best. And this is gonna be the best way of finally saying goodbye, letting you and these things go."

I finally sealed the box, wrapping it entirely with tape. I pushed it to the hole that I've been digging then picked up the shovel and started to cover it with soil. After covering the entire hole, I sat against the tree and looked up at the night sky. I pulled out my phone from my pocket when it vibrated.

"Hello?" I answered without looking the caller ID.

"Alex! Where are you?" Harper asked worriedly from the other line. "Are you coming home? It's already thirty past midnight and we have classes in the morning."

"Yeah, I'll be home probably by..." I looked down at my watch. "...1:30. Don't worry."

"Fine, but are you okay? You seem so sad for the past few days and then you were loading a box in your car this morning. You know you could talk to me, right?"

"Harper, you worry too much." I faked a giggle. "I wasn't sad, I was just tired from doing a lot of paperwork. And about the box, I was just getting rid of some things."

She sighed, "Okay, fine I believe you but can I at least know where you are?"

"I'm in a friend's house." I lied. "It's been a while since the last time we saw each other so we're trying to catch up."

"Okay. Just come home safely."

"I will. Goodnight, Harper." And so we hang up.

I stared at my phone in my hand for a little while, then I don't know what possessed me to do it but I ended up choosing Mitchie's number and pressed call. The next thing I knew, Mitchie was already on the other line. "Hello?"

I didn't respond.

"Alex?" My heart clenched as I listened to her. "Is everything okay?" I looked down at my lap. "Lex? Are you there?"

I pushed the lump in my throat, "I'm listening. I just want to hear your voice."

She took a deep breath. "Where are you? Why are you still awake? It's already 12:37am in your time. Don't you have classes tomorrow?"

"I'm here..." I trailed off as I looked around the park seeing some people, "...somewhere. And yeah, I do have classes tomorrow."

"Why are you still awake then?" She asked again.

"I was doing something." I answered and I suddenly felt nervous.

She noticed my nervousness. "What were you doing?" She pried.

"Something I needed to do." I gripped my phone tightly, feeling my heart pounded against my chest.

"And what was that?" She insisted.

I gulped, "Just... something." I looked around again.

"Lex, you're not drunk, are you?" She asked curiously.

"No. I'm not."

She sighed in relief. "Good."

"But now I wish I was."

"Why?"

"I don't know." I paused. "Maybe because if I'm drunk, it would take my nervousness away." I ran a hand down my face. "And I'm just nervous talking to you right now."

"Then why did you call if it would only cause you anxiety?"

"I don't know what possessed me to call you." I looked up at the night sky. "Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice... for the last time."

"For the last time?" I heard her shuffle from the other line. "Alex, where are you?" Her tone shifted from soft to stern.

I was confused. "I told you... I'm here... somewhere." I refused to tell her that I was currently sitting in our favorite spot at the park.

"Care to be more specific?" Her tone remained stern. I didn't answer. "Alex, I'm serious. Where are you?"

"Why are you suddenly seemed so agitated?" I questioned.

"Because you won't tell me where you are!" She yelled. I grimaced and pulled my phone from my ear a little.

"Do you really have to shout?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

She took a deep breath again. "Please tell me you're not planning on doing something stupid, Alex."

I can imagine her pacing in front of me while rubbing her temples with her fingers. "I'm not planning anything." I defended.

"You promise?" Her tone went back to soft.

"I promise." I answered honestly. There was a long pause. We just listened to each other's breathing. I was the first one who broke it, "Are you happy, Mitch?"

"Are you happy, Alex?" She countered.

"Define your word _happy_."

"So, you're not." She whispered.

"I didn't say that."

"You don't have to. I can hear it in your voice." She said sadly. "I thought you said if I'm gonna leave you alone, you would be one step closer of being happy?"

"I..." I trailed off. "I'm happy if I know you are happy... So I'm gonna ask again, are you happy, Mitch?"

I heard her sigh in defeat. "Yes. Yeah, I'm happy."

Without me, she finally felt happy. I made the right choice of letting her go and stopped holding her back. I felt a tear fell down my cheek. I blinked my eyes a few times so I could hold back the tears.

"That's all I needed to hear." I smiled sadly. "Goodbye, Mitch." And so I quickly hang up. I stood up and looked up on the big old tree. "So big guy," I patted its bark. "You take care of my memories of her, alright?" I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand. "I'm gonna take it back when I can finally say that I'm completely happy without her." I patted its bark again. "Goodbye." I picked up my things and walked back to my car. As I started the engine, my phone rang. I answered it, "Hello?"

"Alex!"

"Yeah?"

"You're gonna be okay, right?"

"Hmm."

"Lex."

"Don't worry about me. I'm a big girl. I'm gonna be alright." She sighed. "I'm on my way home, Mitch, so I'm gonna hang up now."

"Okay. Goodnight, Lex."

"Goodbye, Mitch."

After we hang up, I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and took a deep breath. My phone lit up and displayed a notification. It was a message from Mitchie: _Lex, please promise me you will take good care of yourself._ I smiled and replied: _I will._ _I promise._

When I was about to push down the hand break, someone tapped my window, wondering who it was, I rolled it down. "Yeah?" I asked and looked up, thinking it was just someone that wanted to ask a question but to my utter surprise, I was greeted by a gun. My heart started to pound against my chest.

"Get out of the car slowly." He whispered. I gulped and slowly opened the door. While slowly stepping out, I looked at him closely, trying to get a clear look of his face. Then I looked around, it seems he was alone. When I was completely out, he pushed me out of his way to get in the car but before he can get in, I pushed him hard on the side of the car and tried to get his gun.

Unfortunately for me, he was able to gain his control instantly but I still tried to get a hold of his gun. While we were fighting for the gun, someone yelled from afar, "Hey!" We both look at the same direction before a shot was released. The man who yelled from afar ran towards us. The hijacker snapped out of his trance as soon as a gunshot was heard. We both looked down, that's when I realized I was the one who got shot. On my abdomen. He quickly pushed me hard, sending me to the ground. I felt I hit my head on something hard. I narrowed my eyes as I try to make out that the hijacker and a guy were fighting over the gun. I heard another gunshot released followed by the screeching of tires. I felt another pang of pain on the side of my head. "Oh my God, Miss!" A guy hovered over me before pressing a hand on my abdomen and lifting my head with his other hand. "Stay awake! The help is coming on its way!"

"My..." I started to say but my eyes were getting heavy and all I could feel was pain. I heard sirens from a distance.

"Just stay awa..." His voice was starting to fade. "Mi..."

Before I went completely blank, all I could think about were the happy times I spent with _her,_ Mitchie, with her big brown warm eyes, smiling brightly at me. I smiled a little as I thought of her. _Goodbye, Sunshine._

* * *

**There you go. Did you expect for a happy ending? Tell me what you think and leave a review. Yes? **

**Maybe... Just maybe, I can turn this around and give you a happy ending. LOL**


	3. Chapter 3

**So... Here I am again. This is quite long, longer than the first two. I hope you'll enjoy reading this. You may or may not like this but please bear with me? And for those people who got sad after reading the previous one, sorry. *pout***

**And oh, I honestly don't know what I'm doing. LMAO**

* * *

I haven't felt so heavy in my entire existence. Like everything in me was heavy. Heavy heart, heavy mind, I felt like every fiber of my being was heavy. Even my eyes, they felt heavy. I don't know how long I've been trying to open them but I didn't have the strength to do so. I felt like I'm trapped in a never ending darkness.

It seemed that there were only two things I could do at the moment: hear and feel. Like for example, I could hear something's beeping somewhere near me. A constant beep. Then I could feel coldness around me. Not very cold, just the right amount of cold.

But I noticed these things were just the same. Like every time I felt I'm aware on what's going on around me, they were just there. The constant beeping and the cold temperature. These things made me feel lost but at the same time they made me feel relieved because even though I can't open my eyes, at least I could still feel something.

And then, just like a flash, I remembered vividly on what had happened to me. The hijacking. The shooting. When I hit my head on something hard. A realization hit me, like the whole world came crashing down on me, _I might be in coma._

x x x

The very first time I heard my mom's voice made me desperately wanted to open my eyes. She was crying, whispering words in my ear. "Alex, honey, just keep fighting alright? You're a strong girl, I know you can get through this. Even though you've been here in a while, we're still here waiting for you, me, dad, Justin and Max. Just please don't give up. I wouldn't know what to do if you'll stop fighting. I can't let you go this early, honey." She tightened her grip on my hand as I felt her head leaned against my arm. She continued to cry, I could feel her tears dropped on my arm.

I don't know what happened, but I felt tears ran down the sides of my face. And I think she noticed it when she pulled back. "Oh honey. You're crying." She sounded relieved as she wiped my tears away. "This is a good sign. It meant you can hear me. It meant you're still here." I felt her wrap her arms around my waist then leaned the side of her face on my chest. "Just keep fighting, alright? We'll gonna be here when you wake up. We love you so much, honey."

I so badly wanted to wrap my arms around my mom just to comfort her, but I just stick on what I can do, in my head, I replied, _I love you too, mom._

x x x

One time, mom told me that someone was there to visit, then I heard Harper said, "Hey you." I felt her lightly poked my chest. I inwardly smiled, she made time to visit me. I knew she had a lot of things to do in school. "You know, Alex I'm quite famous now in school." I could imagine her saying that with her chin held up high like she just achieved something big. I wanted to shake my head and laugh at her, Harper was just so silly sometimes. I even heard my mom lightly chuckled somewhere near me. "And that's because of you, you know? I mean, there were people who I haven't met before that would just suddenly approach me then ask me on how were you doing." She held my hand then her tone became serious. "So you better wake up already, okay? There are a lot of people waiting for you to come back, especially your favorite professor, Mr. Williams, you remember? He said he's waiting for his favorite student to come back. He said you're very talented. He could imagine you having your own art gallery someday." I felt my heart swelled for the praise. I actually remembered him. He was a cool, down to earth professor. "And oh, I almost forgot." She exclaimed, "There's this particular blond girl named Taylor? You know her?" I do remember her. She was a sweet girl and pretty too. "She said you had a subject together. I can't remember what. She's been asking me about you, like everyday. She even asked if she can visit you here. I think she likes you, Alex." She whispered her last sentence.

My mom chuckled again. "Tell her she can visit, Harper."

"Oh, okay."

True to her word, Taylor actually visited the following day.

x x x

Caitlyn also paid me a visit, which left me wondering if Mitchie had already visited me. I mean, if Caitlyn knows what happened to me, she might as well knows too. I heard her said to my mom, "How's the Rebel Russo?" I never thought that nickname still exists.

"Still fighting." My mom answered.

"Oh well, that's good." I felt her held my hand. "Alex, you gotta wake up already. It's been a while. You still have a lot to do. Stop being lazy, I've been here for a couple of times and you're still here on your bed lying your ass around." She joked. I realized this was not her first visit. What about Mitchie?

"Well, hello, hello, hello!" Along came Justin's greeting.

"Justin!" I heard Caitlyn exclaimed. "Look at your sister, she's going back of being the Rebel Russo, just wanted to lie around all day. So lazy." She reported. Caitlyn seemed to be a close friend to my family now.

"Yeah, I know." I felt him ruffle my hair a little. "Hey, little sis."

"How's school, honey?"

"It's alright. I'm glad the semester is almost done. I could be here frequently. I miss my witty sister." I inwardly smiled.

"Speaking of school, I have to go. I have a lot of paper works to finish." Caitlyn suddenly said.

"But you just got here, sweetie." My mom protested.

"Yeah. Can't you go a little later? I can drop you off." Justin said.

"Uh, as tempting as it sounds, I can't stay a little longer, I have a project that has a deadline tomorrow. I just came to stop by to check on how she's doing." She explained.

"Alright." Mom surrendered. "Come back when you're free."

"Of course, Mrs. Russo, I'll come back. I still need to motivate Alex to get up." My mom laughed.

"Alright, I'll walk you out." Justin said.

I felt her squeezed my forearm a little. "Bye, Alex. I hope you're already awake by the time I come back."

_I hope too, Cait. Thank you for being such a good friend._ I thought.

x x x

After Caitlyn's visit, I've been wondering if Mitchie already visited too. Did she ever come when it just happened? Or was she too busy to come home? Or does she even know what happened to me? These thoughts have been taunting me that it brought back memories of her.

Like the first time we met. It was around the start of junior year.

_I was on my way out of the school when I heard Dean called out to me. "Yo, Russo!" I heard his footsteps behind me._

_I stopped and turned around to look back at him. "Sup, Dean!" He jogged towards me. When he stood in front of me, we fist bumped. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you all day." I looked down at him as he panted and rested his hands on his knees._

_"I was late this morning, so I got stuck in detention this afternoon."_

_I shook my head and laughed._

_"So have you heard about the new girl?" He raised his eyebrow at me, mischievously._

_"There's a new girl?" I looked around._

_"Yeah, the same year with us." He answered. "And I'm telling you, she's kind of pretty but a little reserved."_

_"Maybe because she's new. She's kind of just adjusting with the new environment." I reasoned out as we started to walk out of the school gate._

_He shrugged. "Maybe." We walked toward the side walk to cross the street. I heard Dean whispered suddenly, "Oh look at that. The new girl." I looked at him. He nodded towards a shorter brunette standing a few feet away from us._

_She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a gray long sleeve shirt then black converse shoes. Her back was on us so I haven't really seen her face. She was standing at the side walk, awkwardly waiting for the walk sign to light up. There were two guys beside her, playfully pushing each other. She would look at the two guys every now and then, and would step aside a little, away from the guys. It was harmless at first, not until the other one pushed his friend a little hard, making him lost his balance and was able to push the new girl towards the street with the cars still on go. My eyes widened when I saw a car coming towards her and she just stood there, on the street, frozen. I quickly ran up to her, pushing the other guy away, grabbed her arm and pulled her to me. It was just in time, the car honked loudly and ran past us. My heart was pounding against my chest as I took deep breaths. The new girl was wrapped in my arms, her head was in the crook of my neck, taking deep breaths too, probably to calm her pounding heart and her arms were wrapped around my waist. I looked over at the two guys who stood there shocked on what just happened._

_"Dude! What the fuck!" I screamed at them both. I heard Dean ran towards us and pushed both guys back._

_When the guys realized who I was, their eyes widened and repeatedly said, "Russo, we're so sorry. Sorry."_

_The other guy, who had pushed his friend hard, continued, "We didn't mean that to happen. It was just an accident."_

_I narrowed my eyes at them, "I know you two. We'll discuss this some other time." I took a deep breath. "Just... just get the hell out of my sight before I could do something I would regret later." They both nodded and ran away from us. I looked over at Dean, he was eyeing me while grinning at me. I knew what that look meant. I rolled my eyes at him. He quietly chuckled then pointed at the lit walk sign. He mouthed at me, 'I'll leave you two alone.' I narrowed my eyes at him. He shook his head still laughing then crossed the street._

_My attention went back to the girl wrapped in my arms as I felt her shaking. I sighed then pulled back a little from her. She loosens her hold on my waist and stepped back a little. She looked down. "Are you okay, Miss?" I asked as I held her arms._

_"Yeah. I'm... I'm just shaken a little bit, but I'll be alright." She stammered and ran her hands down on her face. "Thank... thank you though... For saving me." She finally looked up at me. And as much as I don't want to admit it, my heart skipped a beat. We just stared at each other for like a little while._

_I was the one who broke the eye contact. I took a deep breath then looked back at her. She was still staring at me with those curious eyes. I squeezed her arms then said, "Wh-where are you heading to?" I asked. I was so glad that Dean already left, because if he had seen me stuttered in front of a girl, he would tease me non-stop._

_"I'm on my way to the bus stop."_

_"Going home?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Uh okay. Um, do you want me to... to take you there?" I offered, nervously. Somehow I felt responsible for her safety. I never understood why, I never took any responsibility for anything, let alone for anyone._

_"No. No, it's fine. There's no need for you to do that. You have already done so much for me, I mean, you saved me." She looked away._

_"No. I insist." She looked back at me, studying me. So I lightened the mood a little and wiggled my brows at her, smiling. "Come on. I promise, I am not a creep." And it worked since she laughed. "So, what do you say?" I softly bumped my shoulder with hers._

_She thought about it. "I don't know." She was skeptic._

_"Okay. You can't trust a stranger." I pulled up my hand and introduced myself. "I'm Alex. Alex Russo." She just stared at my hand. "Should I give you my ID in order for you to trust me?" She stared at me again with those curious eyes. I pulled back my hand, "Fine, here take my ID." I handed it to her. "Do you have your phone?"_

_"Yeah..." She answered, furrowing her brows at me._

_"Okay. Take a picture of me."_

_She raised an eyebrow at me, amusement was starting to show on her face. "And why would I do that?"_

_"Take a picture of me then send it to your parents. Tell them that I'm going to take you to your home and if you'll not make it at home today, let them send my picture to the police and report me so they could hunt me down. Fair enough?"_

_"Alright." She pulled out her phone from her pocket then snapped a picture of me, then fiddled with her phone. "Done!" She beamed at me._

_"So you really don't trust me."_

_"Well, it's better to be safe than sorry." She shrugged and looked at the walk sign. It was just in time that it lighted up and she started to cross the street. I sighed and followed behind her._

_We sat silently side by side in the bus. She was on the window side, looking out. I just stared at her, wondering what she has been thinking about. Then without looking at me, she said, "So... about earlier..." she trailed off. "Those guys seemed to be frightened of you. Why's that?" She asked then turned to me._

_"I..."_

_"Some people that I have known in school warned me about Rebel Russo. Are you that certain Russo?" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at me curiously. Again._

_"So... you have already heard bad things about me." I looked down at my lap._

_"Yeah, and it's quite a lot."_

_"Okay." I leaned my head back and closed my eyes._

_"Okay? Just like that? You wouldn't bother defending yourself?"_

_I sighed. "Just believe what you want to believe. It's like, what you see is what you get."_

_"Huh." She answered thoughtfully. And we left our conversation with that. I didn't bother to open my eyes. I just waited for her to tell me if we already reached our destination._

_Truth to be told, it quite saddened me that she have already heard bad things about me. I bet she had already built a first bad impression about me. Oh well, I guess we're not meant to be friends._

_When we reached to their apartment building, she turned to me. "Well, you have successfully taken me home." She smiled at me._

_I smiled a little. The thoughts that I've been having when we were on the bus were still running at the back of my mind. "Yeah, Mission Accomplished." I took a step back, "Well, I guess I'll see you around at school." I turned to leave._

_"Alex!" She called out. I turned back and saw her holding up my ID with a smile._

_I walked back to her and retrieved it. "Thanks." I said and tucked it in my pocket._

_"What's wrong?" For the fourth time that day, she looked at me curiously again._

_"Oh nothing." I forced out a smile. "I was just thinking about some stuff." She nodded in understanding. "Okay. Bye." I waved and start to walk away._

_"Wait!" She called out again._

_Again, I turned but kept the distance between us and gave her a questioning look._

_"Don't you want me to tell you my name?" She raised an eyebrow at me._

_I totally forget about that info. I guess I was just too pre-occupied. "You don't have to. I think I will be able to get that at school." I smiled sadly at her. She looked at me, confused. "I can't be easily trusted. I'm sure that was one of the things you have heard about me. You don't want to take a risk." She frowned. "It was nice to meet you though." I waved goodbye again but was surprised when she ran up to me then wrapped her arms around my neck._

_"I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad." She whispered sincerely._

_I pulled back. "No worries. I'm used to people to look at me badly."_

_She shook her head. "No. As what you have said, what we see is what we get, and you did nothing but good to me. So I have no reason to look at you like you're a bad person. I mean, for Christ sake, you saved my life." _

_I looked down._

_"From the bottom of my heart, Alex, thank you for saving me. I wouldn't be here standing right in front of you if you haven't pulled me out off the street. I owe you my life."_

_I looked up at her and shook my head. "No. You don't owe me anything. I was just trying to help."_

_She smiled. "Are you sure you're the one they were referring as Rebel Russo?" She inquired._

_I chuckled a bit. "Yes, I'm positive."_

_"Oh well, all things aside, I want you to know that my name is Mitchie. Mitchie Torres." She pulled up her hand to me, smiling brightly._

_I genuinely smiled at her, "It's a pleasure meeting you, Miss Mitchie." I shook her hand._

And that's how it all started.

Our second encounter was interesting and fun. She saw my rebel side. And I honestly can say that she found my rebellious side amusing. She just don't want to admit it. It was a couple of weeks after we first met. I don't even understand why it took a couple of weeks for us to see each other again when we were in the same year, in the same school.

_It was early in the morning at school and I was using my skateboard in the hallway._

_"Out of the way. Out of the way." I repeatedly said as the students made way for me._

_As I made pass to the principal's office, Mr. Laritate called out to me, "Ms. Russo, in my office, now!" I sighed, "And bring that skateboard of yours!" I rolled my eyes. When I was about to turn back around, I saw her. She was looking at me curiously. Well instead of going to the office, I made my way towards her, still using my skateboard._

_I grinned at her, "Well hello there, Miss Mitchie." I greeted as soon as I came to a stop. "It's been a little while since the last time we saw each other."_

_She turned her back to me and opened her locker. "So... you like to skateboard in a school hallway."_

_I leaned on a locker beside her, "Yeah, it's faster this way. And most students thinks it's cool." She snorted as she pulled out some books. "What? It's true." And to prove my point, I asked loudly. "It's cool to skateboard in the hallway, right?" And they answered me with a loud, "Yeah!" She raised an eyebrow at me. "See? I told you." I smirked._

_She held back a smile and shook her head. "I don't know how you brainwashed these people."_

_I gasped and put a hand over my chest in mock horror. "How dare you accusing me of doing such a thing. I didn't brainwash these people, they just think I'm cool."_

_She closed her locker and turned to me. "Uh-huh."_

_"And I bet, you also think that I am cool."_

_"Oh, yeah?" She challenged._

_"Yeah."_

_"Well, consider yourself as a loser then because I don't think you are cool." I was about to answer when Laritate called out again._

_"Miss Russo, report here in the office this instant or you will be getting two detentions today!" He threatened._

_I rolled my eyes, "Why does he have to be such a pain in the ass?"_

_She let out a chuckle._

_"Ah, there it is. The smile."_

_Her smile immediately faltered. She wrapped a hand over my face. "Just go and report to the office, Russo or else you will get more in trouble." When she removed her hand from my face, I smirked at her. "Stop smirking at me." She scolded but I continued smirking at her. She rolled her eyes. "And stop calling me Miss Mitchie, just Mitchie."_

_"I'll call you Sunshine instead." I walked backwards, skateboard in hand._

_"What? No! Just Mitchie." She protested._

_"See you around, Sunshine! And I better not know that someone else is calling you Sunshine or else I'll finish them." I laughed as I made my way to the office._

_During lunch time, I went to the lunch room and there I saw her with some of her friends. I approached them with Dean in tow._

_"Well hello there, Sunshine." I greeted and smiled down at her. Her and her friends all looked up to us with surprised expressions. They immediately made room for me to sit down. I sat across from her._

_"Uh, what are you doing here?" She raised an eyebrow. Then she looked up at Dean who was standing beside me._

_"I came here to give you something." She looked back at me. "This is Dean, by the way. My best bud." I pointed a thumb towards him._

_She gave him a smile. Dean, however, gave her a nod then said, "Sup, Torres."_

_I chuckled when her smile faltered. "What's up with you and him that you're not able to call me just by Mitchie like a normal person?" She asked me._

_Before I could answer, Dean answered first. "Oh, nothing personal, Torres. I just like to call people with their last names." She nodded in understanding then turned to me._

_"Oh well..." I started, "I... I don't know. You're just different so I wanted to call you differently." I shrugged._

_She shook her head but with a hint of a smile on her face. "So, about the thing you wanna give me?" She asked curiously._

_"Oh, yeah." I pulled out the flowers in my hands that I've been hiding under the table._

_"What are these for?" She looked down at them._

_"Um, I don't know."_

_"You don't know?" She raised an eyebrow feeling amused._

_"If I were you, Torres, I'll hide them under the table right away." Dean whispered to her. She looked at him, confused._

_"Why?"_

_"Because Russo here just stole these flowers from my office!" Laritate came out of nowhere then snatched the flowers from the table. "And I'm gonna put these back, where they belong." Then he looked down at me. "I'm warning you, Miss Russo." He threatened. I just rolled my eyes at him. Then he stormed off out of the lunch room._

_She ran her hands down her face. "Oh my God, you're gonna get me in trouble."_

_I chuckled, "Nah." She narrowed her eyes at me. I quickly looked around and avoided her gaze. I tapped a hand on the table. "Well, that's all I came for. Now that was done, it's time for us to leave." I stood up and grinned at her. She looked up at me. "Til next time, Sunshine. Stay pretty as you are." I saw a blush slowly creeping out of her cheeks. Then we're out._

Since then we were able to see each other in the hallways every once in a while. Every time we crossed paths, I will just send her a wink with a smirk. And in return, she would roll her eyes at me but still with a hint of a smile. Then when we pass each other, we'll just laugh.

Due to our little exchanges, we somehow ended being friends. Despite of our differences, we were able to set them aside or just able to get each other. Along the way I knew I have already developed feelings towards her, I just don't want to admit it because I don't want to jeopardize our friendship.

I was able to hold back everything in, not until I learned that there was some guy who was trying to send some affection towards her. Well as expected, I felt jealousy creeping out on me. But since I had no claim on her, I let it go even though I so wanted to rip the guy's head off.

There was a time that we were supposed to meet somewhere at school but I decided to pretend that I forgot about it and ditched her. I was keeping my jealousy in bay, so I don't wanna risk on seeing her with that guy. If I'll be able to see them together, I know I'm gonna lose myself and I don't want that to happen.

_I decided to go to the park instead and sketched away all I wanted to sketch. It usually made me feel better. I was doing some finishing touches with my last sketch, a sketch of her might I add, when her voice startled me._

_"So you decided to ditch on me just to sit here in the park, alone."_

_I quickly closed my sketchpad. "Oh, we were supposed to meet?" I asked innocently and looked up at her. She leaned a hand on the tree's bark, where I was leaning my back on, then raised an eyebrow at me. "Is today Friday?" She just stared at me. I hit my head with my hand. "Ooo, sorry, I forgot. I thought today is Thursday." I lied. No response. I sighed, "How long did you wait for me?" She shrugged then sat beside me, leaned against the bark too. "How did you know I was here?"_

_She stared at the horizon. Without looking at me, she answered, "Dean."_

_"Oh." I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Mitchie. For making you wait. I really forgot about it."_

_She turned to me. "Okay. What seems to be the problem, really?" She asked, frustration was evident in her voice._

_I looked at her, confused. "What do you mean?"_

_She narrowed her eyes at me. "I think you know damn well what I mean."_

_I furrowed my eyes in confusion. "I honestly don't know wh..."_

_"Stop lying!" She exclaimed. I was startled by her outburst. I honestly felt nervous._

_"Mitchie." I whispered as I pulled back from the tree then turned a little to face her. She was taking deep breaths. "Calm down."_

_"How can I calm down if you're acting like that?!" She yelled again. She turned to face me too._

_"Mitchie, you better stop yelling at me!" I shouted back._

_"Or what?" She challenged. "You're gonna punch me? Like you do to those people in school who wouldn't give you your way?" She pushed my shoulder hard. "Huh?"_

_I closed my eyes then took a deep breath to control my anger. I honestly don't know where this conversation was heading to. "Stop it."_

_"Then tell me what's wrong with you!" She demanded. "Did I do something wrong to you? This week, you did nothing but avoid me. And now, you stopped calling me Sunshine. So I must did something wrong." She explained._

_I chuckled sarcastically. "I thought you don't want me to call you Sunshine?"_

_She breathed out, "Alright, fine. But tell me why have you been avoiding me."_

_I shook my head. "I wasn't avo..."_

_She cut me off. "I told you to stop lying!" She yelled again._

_"Okay, fine! I was avoiding you!" I shouted back then stood up. I turned my back to her. "I have heard things about you, that was why I avoided you."_

_"What things?" I heard her shuffled then stood in front of me._

_I looked down. "That there's a guy who have been following you or have been guarding you."_

_"That's all?" She asked in disbelief and it made me mad._

_I laughed humorlessly. I looked at her. "Yeah, that's all. It's not a big deal, really." I said sarcastically. "It only made me feel jealous. That's all."_

_"Jealous? Why?" And I can't believe this was the time she chose to be so stupid._

_"Because I fucking like you, alright?! I like you so damn much!" I let it all out. "And I know you wouldn't feel the same way because you only see me as a friend. And for Christ sake, I don't deserve someone as amazing as you. I mean, I'm just somebody who likes to fuck things up and mmhpff..." I was cut off when I felt her lips on mine. Her hands were on each side of my face while mine were on her hips. The feeling of kissing her was indescribable. All I felt was the pounding of heart in my chest and a house of butterflies erupted in my stomach. When she pulled back, she rested her forehead against mine. "Sunshine?" I whispered._

_She giggled then wrapped her arms around my neck. I held her close. It felt like I was on a dream. "I have liked you for a while now. I was just scared to tell you. I don't know how you would take it. And I never thought you would feel the same way." She whispered._

_I closed my eyes and pulled her even closer. "Sunshine? Be my girlfriend? Please?"_

_She giggled against me. "Don't you think you need to take me out on a date first before you ask me to be your girlfriend?"_

_"Be my girlfriend first then I'd take you out on a date. I'm afraid that you would change your mind anytime soon. So it's better to ask you now. I don't want to risk anything."_

_"You promise you would take me out on a date after I'll agree to be your girlfriend?" She teased._

_I nodded against her shoulder. "I promise."_

_"Okay. I'd love to be your girlfriend." As soon as I heard her say it, my heart soared high. I felt like my heart would burst out in any moment because of happiness. _

_"You have no idea how you made me so happy right now." I told her as I pulled back a little from the hug._

_"Hmmm. If it's the same how I feel right now, I think I have an idea."_

_I untangled her arms around my neck and held her hands. I kissed her knuckles repeatedly as she continued giggling._

A lot happened from that confrontation. Our first fight, our first kiss, and how we became official. And after all that, we had our first date. These things happened in just one day.

Our first I love you's was corny. As much as I don't want to admit it, it was kinda corny and a little bit funny.

It had been months since we became official. And it has been a while that I've been meaning to tell her that I love her, but being the Rebel Russo that I was, I didn't know how to do it.

_I was staring at my ceiling as I thought of ways on how to tell her. I looked at my clock and it was already 10:54pm, meaning I was staring at my ceiling for almost two hours already._

_As I continued to think, I heard a soft sound of music and I knew right away that it was coming from Justin's room. I listened closely to the song and I learned it was a Stevie Wonder song, 'I just called to say I love you.' I chuckled as I thought, 'Justin could be so sappy sometimes.' Just then a light bulb just went off my head. I quickly knocked on Justin's room._

_As soon as he opened his door, I immediately asked, "Can I borrow your car? Mitchie called and there's some emergency at their house." I lied._

_Concern immediately showed on his face. "Is she alright?"_

_"Yeah. I just wanted to go to their house to make sure she's okay."_

_"Okay." He quickly walked to his desk and picked up his car keys. "Do you want me to come with you?" He asked as he handed me the keys._

_"No, it's fine, I can handle it. Thanks though, for this." I gestured to his keys. He nodded._

_As I made my way to the door, I called out, "Mom, I'm going out!" Without waiting for her reply, I went out._

_My heart was pounding against my chest as I drove to Mitchie's apartment. And it even pounded harder when I parked in front of their apartment building._

_I took a very deep breath before pulling out my phone. It was now or never. I carefully selected her name and pressed call, hoping she was still awake._

_My heart almost beat out of my chest when I heard her answer. "Lex?"_

_"Hello, Sunshine." I smiled through the phone._

_"Is everything okay? It's almost midnight already." I heard her shuffling on the other end._

_"I know. It's just..." I trailed off._

_"Did something happen, Lex?" She asked worriedly._

_"No. I just... I wanted to tell you something."_

_"O-okay."_

_I took a deep breath. "I..." I paused._

_"You what?" She asked softly._

_"I... I've been meaning to tell you this for quite sometime now, I just don't know how."_

_"What is it? You're starting to worry me."_

_"Don't. You have nothing to worry about."_

_"Then tell me what's on your mind, already." She said impatiently._

_"You do know how you make me so happy right?"_

_"Y-yeah."_

_"Tonight, I was listening to a Stevie Wonder song and I..."_

_She cut me off, "You listened to a Stevie Wonder song?" She asked in disbelief, amusement was very clear in her voice._

_"Why are you seemed so surprised?"_

_"Oh, I don't know. I thought you only listened to some alternative/rock music." She laughed._

_"I listen to his music every once in a while." I defended, she giggled. Then I realized we were getting off to the topic that I wanted to talk about. "Now, you're gonna make me forget about the thing I wanted to tell you."_

_"Oh, okay. Sorry. Now carry on." She sheepishly said._

_I let out a chuckle. "Thank you. So, as I was saying... I listened to this certain song of his and it just hit me right on spot." I breathed out. "So, Sunshine..." I trailed off. _

_"Yeah?"_

_"I just called to say..." I took a deep breath, "...that I love you."_

_There was a long pause and it made me nervous as hell. I could still hear her breathing on the other line, so that was a good thing. At least she didn't hung up on me. I sighed, "You don't have to say anything. I just... I just wanted you to know how I feel."_

_"Where are you?"_

_"Um... I'm actually here outside your apartment building." I laughed nervously._

_"Wait there. I'll come to you." Then she hung up on me._

_I ran down my hands on my face and then I realized they were shaking. I shook it off then took a deep breath again before getting out of the car. I leaned against it as I waited for her and looked around. I shifted my gaze when I heard the door opened and saw her running towards me with a very bright smile. When she got to me, she quickly wrapped her arms around my neck and engulfed me in a tight hug._

_I giggled, "Well hello to you too, Sunshine."_

_She pulled back a little, smiling at me then pressed a firm kiss on my lips. Moment after, she pulled back then leaned her forehead against mine. "I love you too, Alex." She whispered._

_"Y-you do?"_

_She pulled back completely then nodded. _

_I held her hands then kissed her knuckles. "I love you so much, Sunshine." I said against her hands. She kissed the top of my head in return._

_"Who's car is this?" She eyed the car behind me._

_"It's Justin's, he was at home today so I was lucky to borrow it and drove here." I explained. "And oh, I almost forgot, I have something for you." I opened the passenger seat and pulled out the flowers I had bought along the way. She smiled widely as she looked at them. "These are for you. Sunflowers for my Sunshine."_

_She accepted them with a smile but then it quickly faltered. "Where did you get these? I hope these aren't from Mr. Laritate's office." She teased._

_I rolled my eyes. "No. I actually bought them this time."_

_She giggled, "I was just kidding, baby." She pecked my cheek._

_I raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. So I'm your baby now?"_

_"Obviously. Why? Don't you like it?" She pouted._

_"I love it." I kissed her pout away. I looked up at the night sky and realized it was already late. "You should get inside and get some rest. It's late already." _

_She nodded._

_"Come on, I'll take you to your door." I pulled her hand in mine and intertwined our fingers before locking the car. She leaned her head on my shoulder as we made our way to their apartment door. When we got there, I kissed her forehead, "Goodnight, Sunshine."_

_"Goodnight, baby. Drive safely. Text me when you get home, okay?" I nodded. I made my way to the stairs, but stopped when she called out. "Babe!" I turned to her. "I love you." I smiled._

"I love you." I heard a whisper in my ear. "Please come back to me." My heart skipped a beat then I felt it beat faster. I opened my eyes but then closed them back right away when it was greeted by the bright light. I heard a fast beep somewhere. "Lex?" I heard again. I let out a groan as I tried to open my eyes and this time I made sure to do it slowly.

When I opened them fully, I saw her, hovering over me. I stared at her and she stared back. I could see the tears in her eyes. In the corner of my eyes, I could see people rushing inside, coming my way. I broke my eye contact with her and looked around. Then back at her. I furrowed my brows.

"Who are you?"

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**So... I assume you wanna strangle me already, huh? *smirks***

**I think you guys already predicted that I would make Alex have some kind of a memory loss. Yes? I mean, I think it was quite obvious. Or did you think I was going to give you the happy ending already? Nah, I wanted to torture you first. I wanted you to crave for the happy ending. LOL Would you crave for it? Honestly?**

**About doing Mitchie's POV, I'll think about it. It's hard for me to write her. I don't know why. Maybe for the next chapter? I'll see what I can do.**

**Now, time to review. Yes? **

**Peace out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**How about a Mitchie's POV? Some of you wanted to know her part, right? **

**This is kinda short, just a heads up. So, bear with me?**

**Well, I have forgotten to thank you guys for you know, reading this. And thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites. I appreciate it, a lot.**

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"Honey?" I heard my mom slightly shaking me, pulling me out of my sleep.

I groaned, "Give me 15 more minutes." I mumbled then shifted to turn my back on her.

"Honey, you need to get up. Come on." She tugged on my shirt.

"Why? I don't need to go somewhere. I'm off today." I complained. "I'm so tired." I whined then pulled a pillow against me.

"I need to tell you something, so get up already." She insisted and shook me again.

"Tell me later, mom, please." I pleaded. My body felt so tired, heavy and exhausted from all the work I have been doing lately and to add of all these, my conversation with Alex the other night made me restless until now. After we talked on the phone, I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and I had no idea why. Maybe because even though she said she was fine, I knew that she wasn't.

"It's about Alex." She whispered slowly.

And that was more than enough for me to fully wake up. I snapped my eyes open then turned to her. My heart suddenly pounded against my chest. I sat up, "What about her?" I asked carefully.

She looked at me for like five seconds then shifted her gaze and looked across the room. "Um..." She trailed off. I can tell that she was having a hard time on what to say. She furrowed her brows, rubbing her palm on her forehead.

"What mom?" I urged her to continue. I already had a feeling that what she was going to tell me isn't good. My heart continued to pound and it made me want to throw up.

"I got a call from Caitlyn and she said you weren't answering her calls." She started.

I looked at my night stand and reached for my phone. I had 13 missed calls and 3 texts from her. "It was on silent mode, but what does this have to do with Alex?" I put aside my phone without checking Caitlyn's texts.

She took a deep breath. "Caitlyn called to let you know that Alex is in the hospital right now."

My heart clenched and I felt like a headache was coming. "What? Why? What happened to her? When did this happen? I just talked to her the other day, she said she was okay." I started to ramble.

"She was hijacked the other night and it got out of hand, saying there were gunshots involved. She's in critical condition right now, honey." She said sympathetically, pulling my hand between hers. "She's in coma."

After my mom said that, my tears fell down on my cheeks. I pulled my hands up on my face and cried. Alex. Of all the people in this world, why it had to happen to her.

My mom wrapped me in her arms. "I need to go see her, mom. I need to go home and see her." I said in between sobs.

"I know, honey. I already booked a flight for us and I already called Dave letting him know that there's an emergency. He only gave you a few days off, though." She rubbed soothing circles on my back.

I nodded against her, "Thanks, mom."

"Go, get ready. We have to leave in two hours."

x x x

Our flight was spent in silence, and I was thankful that my mom didn't try to have a conversation with me because I don't know if I was still capable of talking. I can't think of anything or anyone but Alex. The last time I talked to her, she was just so... sad. My heart clenched as I remembered her saying goodbye before she hung up on me. I put a hand over my mouth as I choked back a sob but my tears were already had fallen out. My mom put an arm around my shoulder, pulled me to her for a side hug.

Caitlyn picked us up at the airport. As soon as I saw her, I burst into tears again. She just held me and whispered comforting words in my ear. Saying, Alex will gonna be alright.

When we got to the hospital, Alex's parents were there. I have thought the worst case scenario, that I wouldn't be welcomed to see Alex because of what I had done to her. To my surprise, Theresa seemed to be happy upon seeing me because she welcomed me with arms wide open.

"Mitchie, honey." She smiled even though tears were forming in her eyes. She wrapped me in a warm hug like a mom would do. "You came home."

"I needed to see her." I said as tears fell from my eyes.

She pulled back, "She would be happy when she knows you came home for her." She put her hands on my cheeks.

"I'm not so sure about that." I looked down. "With the things that happened between us? For everything I put her through, _still_ putting her through? I think I'm the last one she wanted to be here." I wiped my nose with the back of my hand.

"I beg to differ, honey." She smiled sadly at me. "Let's talk about this later. Why don't you head to her room now and see her."

I nodded as she took me where Alex's room was.

When we reached to it, she slightly opened the door then said, "I'll leave her with you. Talk to her, maybe she can hear you." I nodded and thanked her.

As soon as I completely saw her, my knees went weak, and so as my heart. I had to lean at the wall for a second to steady myself. There she was, sleeping on a small bed peacefully. A steady beep echoed in a quiet room, an indication of her steady heartbeat. I walked closer to her, reaching for her hand. I studied at her face, she was still beautiful like the last time I saw her. I pulled up my free hand and softly touched her face, carefully avoiding the bandage that was wrapped around her head. "Hi." I said softly then lightly squeezed her hand. "You're gonna be okay, right? You're gonna wake up sometime then leave this bed. Right, Lex?" I pushed the lump in my throat. "You told me that you're gonna be okay, so do that. I know you can do it. You're a strong girl."

I took a deep breath, "I'm gonna here for only a week, can you come back while I'm still here? I know, I'm the last person you wanna see but I wanna see you wake up. Please, Lex." I slowly pulled up her hand and carefully sat at the edge of her bed then placed her hand on my lap.

"I know I have caused you a lot of pain and I'm terribly sorry for that. How I wish I could explain to you everything what was going on with me." I looked down, "It seems everything is so messed up. I don't know what to do." I looked back at her, looking at her chest as she steadily breathes.

"You know? I think you're the only thing that made sense in my life." I smiled a little and softly played with her fingers. "I lied when I told you I am happy. I actually thought I was. I thought making it in the music industry would make me happy. But now as I think of it, since I got in LA, I am anything but happy." My smile turned to frown. "Because I knew, I left my happiness here, I left it with you." I took a deep breath.

"You have no idea how many times I picked up the phone to call you. To beg for you to take me back but every time I do, I would always remember that you wanted to move on and let go if I haven't figured things out yet. That was always the reason why I couldn't have the will to call you, because I don't want to hurt you anymore. I had hurt you so much and I knew you couldn't take any more pain." I wiped the tears that fell from my eyes.

"But there's one thing that I figured out though, while I was in LA... I never stopped loving you. I am still in love with you." I put my free hand over her heart, feeling it beats against my palm. "I hope this still beats for me. I hope I still have a hold of your heart." I wrapped her hand in between mine then kissed it.

After that, I just sat with her, looking intently at her. I don't know how long I was doing it but I snapped out of my thoughts when a knock came from the door. I looked over it and saw Theresa came in with a smile. "It's already dinner time. Do you want to come with me and get one?"

"Oh." I looked at my watch and it was indeed dinner time. It has been already a couple of hours passed that I was watching her. I looked back at Alex.

"Her dad can look out at her while we're gone." She assured. "Come on. You can come back." She urged.

I nodded, "Okay." I carefully stood up from the bed then placed a soft kiss on Alex's cheek. "I'll be right back." I whispered in her ear.

We settled to have our dinner in the hospital's cafeteria. As we sat across from each other, I asked, "Where's my mom?"

"She said she needed to run some errands and if you needed anything, she was just a phone call away." She smiled.

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

While we were eating, Theresa suddenly said, "Thank you for making time to come here, Mitchie. It really means a lot."

I looked up at her, "I think I should be the one thanking you, Theresa." She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Despite of all the things I've done to Alex, you still let me be here. I was expecting to be banned from here. I mean, I hurt your daughter."

"About that, what happened between you two? You were so in love." She looked at me in the eyes. "I mean, Alex is still in love you, but what happened?"

My heart skipped a beat at that information. It was what I was hoping for. I looked down at my plate again, pushing the contents of it around. "I honestly don't know what happened. If we grew apart? Or maybe I was just too focused on doing something for my dream and lost time for her? Or if I pushed her away? I don't know." I paused, "But there's one thing I know though... that is, I'm still in love with her." I stared at back at her eyes, "I never stopped."

She smiled widely, "That's good, then." but then it faltered. "But are you gonna do something about it?"

I nodded, "Yeah. I think I have finally figured things out. I'm gonna be here for a week so I have time to plan on what should I do."

She nodded in understanding. "And um, if you don't mind me asking, but don't you have a boyfriend back in LA?" She asked curiously.

My heart sank at the question. "You mean Nate Grey?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. Alex only told me that you already have a boyfriend. She was so heart-broken about it."

My heart clenched at that. "Where did she know about that? I thought she avoided all the things about me when I was in LA?"

"I think she accidentally read it in a magazine." I frowned. "So, do you have a boyfriend there?"

"No. I don't have a boyfriend there. Nate is just a cover-up. He's my guy best friend. He knows about Alex because I talk to him about her. He has a girlfriend of his own too. The record label knew about me of being gay so they thought having a fake boyfriend would not make anyone get suspicious about my sexuality. Me, being gay was a big no-no to the company. This was the main reason why I couldn't get back with Alex even though I so wanted her to take me back. I secretly told my manager that I have a girlfriend here in New York and he told me that I should keep it as a secret. That I needed to hide her or else they're gonna drop me." I explained, frowning. "I actually considered the idea of hiding Alex but it's gonna be unfair to her. It would be like I'm ashamed of being with her. It would just hurt her more and I don't wanna hurt her anymore. I am tired of doing that to her." I wiped the tears that escaped in my eyes. "But now that I have finally figure things out, I will be able to take care of that as soon as I go back to LA."

Theresa smiled at me. "Whatever you're planning to do, I hope it would work out for you." She reached for my hand on the table and lightly squeezed it.

"I hope so too. Thank you."

x x x

The week went by faster and to my dismay, Alex hasn't still woken up yet and it's already my schedule to go back to LA. I spent my remaining hours in the hospital with her.

I softly caressed her cheek, "Lex, I'm going back to LA today, but just to settle things out. I'm gonna come back, I don't know when but I'll come back. I'll come back for you. Can you promise you will do the same?" I tangled her pinky with mine. "Now, you have no choice but to come back. You already pinky promised." I held her hand in mine.

"Honey," My mom poked her head inside, "it's time to go."

I nodded, "I'll be there in a minute. I'll just say goodbye to Alex."

She nodded then closed the door.

"I'm gonna go now." I kissed her hand. "I'll be back in no time, you'll see." I smiled down at her sleeping form. I leaned closer to her and whispered, "I'll see you soon." I kissed the corner of her mouth, "I love you, baby." then placed a soft kiss on her forehead. I took a one last look then headed out.

"Please let me know how she's doing while I'm away." I pleaded to Theresa.

"Of course, honey." She put her hands on my cheeks. "Good luck with your plans and be safe." She smiled.

I nodded as I smiled back. "Thank you, Theresa for everything."

"No problem."

x x x

Settling things in LA took me longer than I expected, but I was still thankful that my plans worked out, or at least most of them. Theresa and Caitlyn gave me updates on how Alex was doing while I was still in LA. She hasn't woken up yet, but there are already some progresses. I went straight to the hospital as soon as I arrived in New York. I was excited to see Alex again.

I knocked on her room door then poked my head inside, Theresa and Justin turned their heads toward me then smiled.

"Come in." Theresa stood up from her seat then opened her arms for a hug.

I immediately got inside and hugged her. "How are you guys doing? How is she?" I asked.

We pulled back, "We've been good, however, Alex is still asleep, but the doctor said that she's been having progress." She answered with a smile.

I smiled, "That's good." I approached Justin to give him a hug as well. "How are you? It's been a long time since the last time I saw you."

"I know," He smiled, "it's been years, but I'm good." I nodded.

"How are you, honey?" Theresa asked as Justin and I pulled back from the hug.

"I'm good, now that I'm here." I smiled then walked closely to Alex. I held her hand, "Hi." I softly said then leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek. "I'm back. Sorry if it took me for a while to come back. There are just a lot of things that needed to be taken care of." I cupped my hand on her cheek and softly caressed it with my thumb. "I missed you."

"I'm sure she missed you too." Theresa said. I looked back at her with a smile.

"I hope so."

"Do you guys want to eat something? I could use a walk right now." Justin offered.

"Coffee and a muffin will do, honey." Theresa answered smiling at Justin. He looked at me.

"Just coffee." I smiled. "Thanks, Justin."

"No problem." He answered and then headed out.

"Your parents have been visiting here for a couple of times while you were still in LA." Theresa started as the door closed.

I nodded, "Yeah, mom mentioned it to me."

"Speaking of your mom, she told me that you were planning to leave all the things you have in LA. Is this true?"

I sighed, "Yeah."

She furrowed her brows, "Why? Is this because of Alex? I don't think she would be happy if she'll learn that you dropped your dream because of her, honey." She said sadly.

"It's not like I dropped my dream, it's like I just took a break. What I had in LA, it just made me unhappy. Like, they were just controlling me, that's it. They never asked me what I felt about the things they wanted me to do." I looked down at my lap.

"What about the plans you told me about? What happened to that?" She held my hand.

I looked at Alex. "I just completed all of my resposibilities for the contract I signed to them, that was why it took me months to be able to come back here. When they offered me another one, I set some conditions before I'll decide if I want to work for them again."

"What were your conditions?" She asked curiously.

"I won't be back until I'll be sure that Alex is fine, that she's already awake for that matter and I wouldn't hide my sexuality anymore."

"What did they say?"

"They said yes with my second condition only because they were sure that I have a strong fanbase. But with the first one, they only gave me a year to have a break and I still need to work new songs from that period of time."

"Did you take the offer?"

"I haven't signed it yet."

"Why? I think that offer is okay, honey."

I shrugged, "But what if Alex hasn't woken up yet after a year?" I looked back at her. "I don't wanna leave her again like this." I shook my head. "I can't focus with my work anyways knowing she's still in this condition."

Theresa just let out a sigh, dropping the subject then gave me a sympathetic smile.

x x x

It's been almost two weeks since I came back from LA and Alex is still asleep. I've been spending all of my time in the hospital. I actually met some of her new friends. But what I remember most is when I met her new friend/roommate, Harper. When she saw me in Alex's room, she just stared at me for a good five minutes which I found it very funny.

_Theresa and I were talking when someone knocked on the door. "Come in." Theresa called out. _

_A red-haired girl came in with a tray of coffee. "Hello, Mrs. Russo." She greeted then softly closed the door. "How's Ale-" She stopped mid-sentence when her gaze came to me. Her eyes were wide and just stared at me. I looked at Theresa with a smile._

_She chuckled and shook her head. "Hello, Harper." She stood up and took the red-haired girl to a chair and let her sat down. The girl was still staring at me. "Mitchie, this is Harper, Alex's friend from school and her roommate." Theresa introduced the girl in her behalf since the girl was still in a shock state. "Harper," Theresa put her hand on Harper's shoulder, "this is Mitchie. Alex's..." she trailed off. I looked at Theresa, waiting for her to finish her sentence. "…girlfriend." I looked down with a smile as I felt a blush creeping out on my cheeks. I still didn't consider myself as Alex's girlfriend again since we obviously haven't talked about it since I came back home, that's why I introduced myself to her new friends as her best friend. But I was glad that Alex's mother already considered me as her daughter's girlfriend again._

_I composed myself then offered a hand to Harper. "Hello, Harper. It's nice to meet you." I said with a smile._

_Harper looked down at my hand then back to me then to Theresa then back to me and finally shook my hand. "H-hello." She stuttered out, slowly shaking my hand._

_"Are you okay now, Harper?" Theresa asked, chuckling. She took the tray of coffee from Harper's hand then placed it at the bedside table. "I think she's a fan, honey." Theresa commented._

_I giggled and looked at Harper again. She blinked a couple of times and said, "W-wait a minute," she took a deep breath, "w-what do you mean 'g-girlfriend?' You're gay?" She asked clearly confused._

_I put my index finger against my lips, smiling and said, "Shhh. It's a secret." I winked at her._

_"Oh my God!" She exclaimed, standing up. "Why didn't Alex tell me?!"_

_And with that, Theresa and I burst into laughter._

_"What about Nate? Isn't he your boyfriend?" She asked again, before sitting back down._

_"It was just a cover up, he's my guy best friend though. He actually have a real girlfriend." I explained._

_She frowned at that. "Oh man. He's still taken?" I nodded. She sighed, "Well, that's sad." she slouched on her seat and then furrowed her brows, "How long you and Alex have been together?"_

_"Since forever." Theresa answered for me then send me a knowing smile._

_"Huh." She answered thoughtfully. "I can't believe Alex didn't tell me that she knew you all this time. Let alone her girlfriend." She shook her head._

It would always make me laugh when that encounter will cross my mind. "Your friend Harper is so silly, Lex." I said as I played with her fingers. This was one of the things that I've been doing when I was alone with her, I always talk to her even though I have no assurance if she could really hear me.

"By the way Lex, Dean called a while ago, he said, he's gonna visit tomorrow. You know he's been calling you Rebel Russo again. I can't believe that nickname of yours still exists." I laced my fingers with hers. "You know, you've changed a lot after all these years. You're not that troublemaker anymore. You have become this mature young woman. You may be silly sometimes but you have matured." I smiled. "Hey remember the first time we met? That time you saved me? I never really thought that you were the one they were referring as Rebel Russo, I mean you helped me without being asked to. And then you were being so sweet and took me home." My heart fluttered as I remember that moment. "I never admitted this to you but that actually made me swoon." I giggled.

"And then the second time we met, you just showed me why they called you Rebel Russo. You were skateboarding in the school hallways, then you made our principal wait for you and then you really had the guts to give me flowers that you stole from his office!" I laughed. "I actually thought you were gonna get me in trouble for that." I poked her chest. "I don't know if you knew this but I found your rebellion charming. I don't know why." I smiled. "But my favorite thing that happened from that day was when you started to call me Sunshine. I think, that may or may not be the reason why I developed a crush on you." I chuckled. "You know, you didn't explain to me why you called me Sunshine. Or why you stopped calling me that. I missed you calling me Sunshine." I pouted. "You should start calling me that again." Then I remembered we're not together anymore. I frowned, "That's if you still wanted to."

I realized I was already going down to our memory lane, so then I proceeded. "Lex, do you still remember how we confessed our feelings for each other? That time when you just blurted it out because you were so jealous of Mark? A guy that did nothing but kept following me? I honestly don't know that you already liked me like that. I just didn't think that I'm your type so I just kept my mouth shut. You have no idea how you made me so happy that day. And about our first kiss? It was indescribable. I think that was the time I fell in love with you. I just felt it, as soon as I kissed you." My heart fluttered again. "Did you realize it? From that day, a lot happened? Our first fight, first kiss, first date and the day we became official? That day was just unforgettable. But not as unforgettable as our first I love you's of course." I smiled widely. "You drove all the way to our apartment, even it was very late, just to tell me you love me. You do know that was so sweet right? When I hung up the phone, before I went out to you, I actually squealed. My parents just shook their heads at me when I told them you told me that you love me."

I released her hand and cupped her face. "I hope you can say that to me again. Tell me that you love me and you came back for me." I leaned my forehead against hers. "I have no idea what came over to me to think that I fell out of love from you. But I hope you'll come back me so I could make it up to you." I pulled back a little and looked at her face. Then I leaned in and softly kissed her lips. "I love you." I whispered in her ear. "Please come back to me." I closed my eyes and then a little later, I heard her heart monitor beeped faster. I pulled back and looked down at her. Her eyes twitched a little. My heart pounded against my chest. "Lex?" She let out a low groan and slowly, she opened her eyes.

Her eyes that I've been longing to see again. I felt my eyes started to tear up. She stared at me as I stared back. From the corner of my eyes, I could see the doctor and nurses came rushing in. She broke eye contact with me and looked around for a moment then back at me. She furrowed her brows. "Who are you?"

Before I could process on what she just asked me, I was pushed aside by one of the nurses.

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***sighs* So that was Mitchie's point of view. I hope you still enjoyed it somehow. I know you were expecting Alex's POV again but I just seem to like to have a change for a little while.**

**The next one may be the last. I just felt like the succeeding chapters of this story are getting irrelevant. What do you think?**

**Time to leave a review? Yes?**


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